Palestine football coach looking to make people ‘proud’ in World Cup qualifiers

RIYADH: The prospect of Palestine appearing at the 2026 World Cup is the stuff of dreams and amid the nightmare of the death and destruction reigning down on Gaza, it is a dream that is more important than ever.

As head coach of the national team, Makram Daboub understands this better than most as qualification for the tournament starts against Lebanon in Sharjah on Thursday.

He told Arab News: “We will deal with each game in turn, but we are proud to represent the people of Palestine and we want to deliver the right results.”

Appointed in 2021, the Tunisian tactician knows that even when the situation in Palestine is relatively quiet, there are unique challenges the national team needs to overcome just to compete – let alone succeed – in Asia.

Hours, and sometimes more, are spent getting through checkpoints and trying to get out of Gaza or the West Bank to play international games.

Just moving between the different territories in Palestine can be a frustrating experience and far from ideal preparation for competitive games. However, the current situation is arguably the worst it has ever been as, for more than a month, Israeli bombs have been falling on Gaza, thousands of residents have been killed, and now tanks are on the streets.

But football continues as it almost always does, especially when it comes to the World Cup.

Palestine have been training in Jordan since Oct. 24 in preparation for Lebanon, and then Australia next Tuesday in Kuwait City. Bangladesh complete the group from which the top two teams will go through to the final round of qualification.

Normally, Palestine – as the second-highest ranked team in the group – would have a great chance of being one of the 18 teams that will fight it out for